The PuttingZone announces an innovative program — Sponsor a Young Pro (SYP) — to promote small-but-numerous contributions to help promising young golfers enter the pro circuits at the beginning of their careers. Recipients are chosen annually from the ranks of young amateur golfers exiting collegiate golf who otherwise lack the resources to cover the expenses of travel, lodging, practice rounds, entry fees, and other costs required to establish self-sustaining earnings in tour professional golf.
Geoff Mangum of the PuttingZone community of teachers explained the idea: “Many people would like to see young college players get a shot at establishing themselves in the professional ranks, but in today’s economic climate meeting the expenses of jump-starting a self-sustaining pro career are beyond the means of most talented players trying to make the transition from college golf to the pro circuit. My idea was to encourage mini-sponsors via the Internet and try to leverage the power of the web to collect sufficient start-up money to cover the gap. With entry fees and practice rounds and travel totaling as much as $1,000 or more per pro event, and young pros needing a minimum of 5-10 events to start generating positive income from entry fees, young golfers who have established successful records in college competition but who lack the resources to pursue their dream are effectively shut out of a pro career. In the day of the Internet, it is possible to encourage 500 or more well-wishers to contribute $10 each, and this open the door.”
The PuttingZone will also promote the effort by donating 100% of all sales of the ebook Optimal Putting and PuttingZone downloads to this effort while encouraging well-wishers to contribute directly $10 to $20 each or more.
The first “young pro” selected for the program is Megan McChrystal, of Stuart Florida. Megan became a serious golfer at age 12 and recently graduated from LSU, where she attained the number 1 ranking in NCAA Division I, notched five career victories, set the school’s lowest career scoring average, carded the lowest round (64) in the history of the NCAA Championship, and finished her Senior Year with seven top-5s in ten events, including two wins and two runner-up finishes. To learn more about Megan or to contribute to her career directly, visit her new website at Megan McChrsytal Golf.
Future plans include conducting putting clinics with the proceeds supporting a young pro, and holding golf outings dedicating proceeds to this program. Each year, the PuttingZone will select another promising young pro who needs a little helping hand from other golfers. If you know a possible player to recommend, please send the information to the PuttingZone or contact Geoff Mangum for program details.
About Geoff Mangum and the PuttingZone
Geoff Mangum is widely regarded as the most knowledgeable putting coach in the world and has spent over twenty years studying and coaching putting to amateurs and professionals on all tours. The PuttingZone community includes 22 international Acadamies and 108 certified coaches in 19 Countries worldwide. Mangum combines the best putting lore with modern neuroscience for human perception and movement in putting’s four skills as an integrated system — reading, aiming, stroking, and controlling distance. The result is a permanent and dramatic increase in putting competence and the added confidence that comes with real skill. His book Optimal Putting: Brain Science, Instincts, and the Four Skills of Putting has been called “the best putting instruction book in the history of golf”. His teaching video with PGA Tour winner Steve Elkington, The Reality of Puttting, showcases Mangum’s innovative approach to putting. For more information, visit Geoff Mangum’s PuttingZone, 518 Woodlawn Avenue, Greensboro NC 27401, email him at geoff@puttingzone.com, or call him directly at (336) 340-9079.
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